


Zero One. Zero One.

by Hotalando



Series: Core [15]
Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL, Brotherhood, Gen, Happy Birthday Ace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22054006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotalando/pseuds/Hotalando
Summary: It's that time of year again and two idiot brothers don't know how to spend the day without the man to be honoured.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Sabo
Series: Core [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/870876
Kudos: 32





	Zero One. Zero One.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, Ace!

Experiences of time can even differ extremely between people who are living together on a ship. While one is busy fighting against the flow of time to finish all daily chores, another may lay flat on the grass motionless and out of touch with time but with a million cares and concerns in the world. The flowing of time is ridiculous but essential. Some _times_ it has to be interrupted to cause an useful pause to life. Or to have an impact on its slow pace of flowing. 

Captured by the velocity of his own flow of time, Sanji finds himself a little irritated but mostly confused when the ringing of the Den Den Mushi behind him breaks open his schedule. A frown on his face, he dries his hands on a towel while walking up to the side table and accepts the call—somehow even more puzzled that his captain hasn’t yet stormed into the galley. Still cautious but minding to sound indifferent, he says his usual introduction and greeting, eyes examining the towel on its material state. They might need new ones soon, it’s the sixth he unfortunately notices with holes in the fabric within a week and wonders how cheap the quality of the cotton or webbing must be since he only bought it two months ago.

“It’s Sabo. Can you get me Luffy?” it sounds in different volumes through the speaker of the phone. 

“Sure,” Sanji replies and puts it aside, still puzzled by the towel mystery as he walks over to the galley’s door and yells for Luffy through the opened hole without taking a glance at the recipient. 

Said one arises from his position on the grass floor, a spot he has been lying on for hours now—since the break of day to be precise—and carries himself up to the galley with a heaviness his body isn’t really used to. Not tiredness or exhaustion or rather exhaustion it is but not from a brawl or exercise. The day is seeping energy from him without anything in return. He knows why and it is okay to him. 

“Mhm,” he grumbles into the speaker, shoulders hung low and face turned towards the ground. 

“Comin’ over in a bit.”

“Mhm.”

Without another vocal expression, Luffy hangs up and drags himself back over the galley’s floor—by now with Sanji’s curious attention drawn on him. Not caring about his nakama following him outside and to his spot, once arrived, he slumps down and sprawls out again. Flat on the grassy floor with his eyes staring holes into the cloudless sky, actually without looking at anything at all. He is in no mood for anything but to lie here and mark the grass bed with the shape of his body. No food. No fishing. No games. No hat. Not for today. It’s tough on his every cell, his soul and his mind but his heart isn’t having any shit today. It demands to dwell on this emotional state, soak it up until he cannot move anymore and drown in the excess of what it has taken into its shell. Does it hurt? Yeah. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Sanji asks, finding Zoro by the base of the tree. There’s no one else on the lawn right now, only Robin’s out to tend to her flowers two levels higher. 

“Dunno. He must be lying there since last night.” 

Sanji nods, “I found him like that when I got up but I thought it was just a spontaneous thing.”

“Wouldn’t think so. Robin just tickled his sides but he didn’t react.”

“Do we have to worry?”

Zoro shrugs and sets to respond but is distracted by the shadow reaching their ship. Sharp trained observational skills, he realises soon enough that the intruder is a welcomed one and so he doesn’t budge at all. “This might not be our case to deal with.”

Not really pleased though, Sanji nods in agreement and watches as the flock of ravens descend to let a familiar man in an unfamiliar outfit land on their ship. They share a quick nod of their heads to show acknowledgement of the other before their guest slumps down as well and unfolds his limps to lie exactly as the younger lying figure on the lawn. Some ravens take off and fly away, a few remain to greet the raven-haired woman at the flowerbeds. Such unusual sights but Sanji still decides to return to his chores. 

Silence sprawls out on the deck much like the two men lying flat on the lawn. The rocking of the ship is gentle to their backs, the motion allowing them to sink further into the mud puddle of feelings they cannot express nor let go of. If sharing this experience makes it easier for both individually has yet to be proven. Sharing this moment, this day, is new to them both to begin with, and they both aren’t the type to speak out clearly about their emotions. For one, due to pride and dignity reasons, for the other, due to incapabilities of expression and wording. What matters in the end, is how they communicate with each other on their mutual feelings and thoughts and that is for sure, something they are good at without practice. 

With ignited motivation by the other’s extraordinary excessive heat next to him, Luffy blurbs out some of the ghosts haunting his currently sensitive mind. “Frustrating that he’s never allowed me to celebrate his birthday.” He hears a quiet chuckle and feels the sadness its coming from. “All the time we had so many fights and disagreements but I still wanted to have that perfect day every year.” Now feeling the frustration he has just mentioned, he brushes over his face as if he could get rid of the emotion that way. “Kinda egoistic from me…”

“Yeah,” the older man croaks, harrumphes and speaks in a pale voice, “But someone had to. I mean not to be egoistic but to… you know shove his worth into his face.”

“Mhm.” Luffy frowns but understands what Sabo’s aiming at. “I kinda feel like I’ve been stolen of my right to celebrate his existence. Instead he tried to top mine each year. Like, what does my birthday matter to me if I have to pretend like his doesn’t exist?”

Sabo turns his head to look at his brother with a weak smile, thinking that saying how he has been missing out on almost all of their birthdays seems very, very insensitive at this moment. For so many sleepless nights he has been imagining what it could have been like growing up with his brothers for longer than he has. To put it in Luffy’s words—he feels as if he has been stolen of his teenage years with his brothers. 

“It’s gotten worse over the years even. The older he got the more unpredictable his temper got. We really fought a lot. I know you have all of these weird things going on during that age but he was particularly short-tempered then, especially around his birthday. Maybe I was too, I don’t know…” Shielded under the hand on his face, Luffy grimaces to ease the pain from remembering. 

Watching and listening, Sabo on the other hand is very involved in fantasising about his brothers during their teenage years. The idea of Ace acting up, being even more difficult than usual due to his inner conflicts and demons, has already caught on him and isn’t really surprising. What indeed is surprising is the entire concept of Luffy in puberty. Well, of course he has to have been through it but it won’t get into Sabo’s mind that puberty was the same with his little brother. Particularly all the sex—

“Sorry, you’re not here to listen to me whining,” Luffy sighs and sounds apologetically, “You prolly have better things to do today.”

“You kiddin’? This is a great excuse to pay you a visit. And it’s… it’s, uhm…” Where’s the word he’s looking for? He has ‘better’ pressing on his tongue but it’s not really what he should say. “…it’s easier to come here. I’d normally be at his grave now.”

“Oh…” In an instant, all the unpleasant feelings about an Ace annoyed by his own puberty drop off Luffy’s mind. “I don’t even know where it is…” 

“I’ll take you there one day.” 

“That’d be nice.”

And so they are lying there, taking up so much room on deck and everyone else’s daily routine while they’re feeling so small in comparison to the meaningfulness of this day. It’s a tough day on them, the gravity holding them tightly down on the ground. Painful and breathtakingly sad, frustrating and powerless, Luffy has been through all of the stages of the mourning, all of the accompanying feelings. But for the first time, he also feels some hint of resentment. A heavy sensation as it can be, yet all the more relieving despite the different kind of sorrow it tags along in its wake. He has ever refused to be mad at his brother for _some_ things that have happened—simply because of the entirety of events—so maybe it is Sabo’s presence that allows him to feel this way. The realisation that he will never be able to celebrate Ace’s birthday, the wish to do exactly that for years and years burns at the edges of his mind. Now everything that is left for him to do is have a silent, mournful celebration in his brother’s absence. So unfair, he thinks and feels, his body becoming even heavier from all the unwanted emotions raging through his system. If someone would just stop them, he pleads in his mind, while he can sense the one brother to his side going through the same turmoil. Will it stop? 

“GET UP!” it sounds annoyingly loud from the shadow that suddenly hides the sunlight from them. Called to obey, they both sit up and look at the man before them, as wide and tall as their vision. The suddenness of the call stripped them off their emotional suit and throws a blanket of shame on their metaphorically bare selves. 

“You think he would have wanted you sulking in your pity all day?” the man continues, drawing the entire crew’s attention on the scenery. He’s the only one on-board besides them who is aware of the day. “I don’t mind you both ignoring your responsibilities for today but lying around uselessly in everyone’s way is a very self-centred and disrespectful way of dealing with this day.” 

Busted like a boy on hiding the vase he’s just broken, Luffy looks down at the grass before him and picks at the innocent blades. “I guess you’re right, Jinbe.” 

With a strict look and raised eyebrow, Jinbe switches over to the other man sitting on the lawn. “I agree,” Sabo hastily nods, too taken aback to hide his blush completely from sight. 

“Your self-pity is a shame on his honourable day.” And before he turns to leave for the galley, Jinbe adds: “So, let’s have a drink on his behalf.”

In unison, they hang their heads low. But with a smile on their features.


End file.
